Past, Present, and Future
by BerrySorbet
Summary: Yuffie Vincent Romance, but also adventure. Takes place after AC. When Godo dies suddenly, Yuffie feels responsible for his death. Vincent helps her out of the the hole she has put herself in, before a new plot to destroy AVALANCHE is discovered...
1. Chapter 1

Yuffie entered the room hesitantly when she saw the empty beer cans and smashed wine bottles. Her father's room was a mess. The grimy rug was screwed up on the floor and the sliding doors lay open, letting the cold wind push through the room. Godo lay, half unconscious, on the cream sofa. He let out a loud belch when Yuffie walked in as she stared at the massacre in front of her.

She had received a call a few hours before from the Turtle Paradise Inn telling her that her father was not able to stand up any more and it was offending the few customers they had. Yuffie was surprised by the call (her father never let himself drink too much), but set off from Rocket Town where she had been visiting Cid immediately. When she arrived at the bar, she was told her father had already stumbled back to his house by himself. The one man in there shouted a few drunken words about Wutai being so far down the drain that their leader had even tried to drink his troubles away, but soon became quiet when she brought out her Conformer. Racing down the hallways, she wasn't sure what to expect, but gasped at the condition Godo was in.

"Cleaning lady! Aw, I'm so glad you made it! I called an hour ago but no one came. You look familiar, did you and I ever...?" He sat up slowly and raised his eyebrows at the young woman in the doorway.

_Grossness. _"It's me Godo. Your daughter?" Yuffie wasn't in the mood for her father's idiotic behaviour, she had been having a nice time with Cid until the pub called.

Godo screwed his eyes up at her and denied it. "Nah, you're not my daughter. She hasn't seen me in years, and she's always hanging out with those idiots from Midgar." He tried to stand up but fell right back down again, his head felt like it flying high above all the responsibilities thrust upon him.

"Nope, it's definitely me!" She saw him struggling to stand and dragged his arm over one of her shoulders. Walking carefully, she helped him through the glass doors and out onto the terrace that overlooked the royal gardens.

"Oh crap it is you." Yuffie was stunned to hear him swear for the first time. It wasn't much of a swear compared to Cid and Barret but it was worst she'd ever heard from him. She smiled at the amount of black mail she was going to have on him by the next morning. "I forgot how much you looked like your mother." His fowl breath wafted to Yuffie as she sat him down on the wooden slats.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Well Yuffie, do you know what today is?" He looked up at her and took another swig of his beer can. "Today, is the day your mother died, and you didn't even remember!" He pointed at her accusingly before nearly falling over again.

Yuffie squirmed uncomfortably. She had remembered, that why she had gone to Cid's. She wanted to get away from all the memories of death in her life and decided Rocket Town was the best destination. Shera was still running around after their new born and Cid would just sit and drone about his new air ship, having to put a dollar in a swear jar every few minutes when Shera made him. It was a light and breezy atmosphere. "I did remember, I just wanted to forget."

"Bah!" Godo yelled. "You think you've got it so bad just because your Ancient friend got killed and your mother died when you could hardly remember it! You don't know what it's really like to loose someone! You weren't even that close to the Cetra girl."

All the sympathy she had for her father disappeared in those few seconds and were replaced with anger. She stomped back into the room and grabbed the luggage she had left at the door. "That was too far Godo, too far. Have fun drinking alone, you're no father of mine." She slammed the door behind her loudly and ran back to the chocobo she had left outside, ignoring the pleas from Godo to stay.

He groaned to himself in the darkness and tried to push himself back up. He failed stand again and started crying in the moonlight. Not only had his wife died only a few years after they were married, but ever since then he had been pushing away his only daughter because of how much she reminded him of his wife. He was an idiot.

--

Yuffie's cell phone beeped loudly next to her in the spare bedroom of Cid's house the next morning. She muttered to herself something about letting it go to answer phone before Cid burst in the room in a robe.

"Hey brat, your !?*!~ phone's ringing and it's waking up the baby! Answer it!" Even in his angry state, She couldn't help but laugh at Cid's clothes.

"Sorry old man, but it was worth it seeing you in THAT!" She held a giggle back before bursting out into screams of laughter.

Cid glanced down at his body before realising he had put on his wife's robe, the pink silk one. He rolled his eyes at Yuffie's immaturity before stomping back off. "I'm not old damn it, just answer your phone."

Her cell was still hissing angrily at her on her bedside table, so she answered it quick before Cid could come back. "Yuffie here!" She sang into the phone.

"Oh, M-Miss Kisaragi. It's Staniv." She wondered what her father had done last night after she left. "I'm afraid I have some bad news..."

--

The whole village sat a week later in the light drizzle that had begun to fall. AVALANCHE sat restlessly on the wooden seats surrounding Godo's grave.

Most of them hadn't wanted to come to the funeral of someone they didn't really know, but Tifa insisted that Yuffie needed them all badly and they would all have to go if they wanted to keep their legs. Three days ago they all piled out of The Shera and had tried to contact Yuffie, only to find she had locked herself up in her room like she always did when she was upset. The funeral was the first time anyone had seen her since the phone call at Cid's house, and she didn't look well.

Her black dress reached to the floor and her tired face was covered up with small black veil. It was obvious she wasn't comfortable being there but she was made to stand at the front with Godo's four companions. Staniv, Chekov, Shake, and Gorkii stood looking down at the coffin in front of them, but every once in a while one of them would flick their eyes back to Yuffie. She was well aware of this but seemed in a dreamlike state.

After the funeral was finished she tried to hide back in her room but Tifa grabbed her and asked her to talk for a bit. She was reluctant at first but gave in to Tifa's unyielding pleas. Tifa took her aboard Cid's ship and asked her to spill what had happened.

Yuffie repeated the night she saw Godo to her friends but it still didn't manage to make her feel any better. "...It was all so fast, the next thing I knew I was getting a phone call from Staniv telling me that Godo had fallen off his balcony and was found the next morning dead." The party were shocked by her words and felt bad for their friend who used to be so happy, even if she was a little annoying sometimes.

"Ah hell I'm sorry brat, if anything like that happened to Marlene I don't know what I'd do." Barret squeezed her shoulder in affection and walked out of the bridge to call his adopted daughter. She was all Barret ever thought about.

"Me too kid. You can stay with me n' Shera as long as you want." Yuffie smiled weakly at Cid's invitation but turned it down, saying that she had to look after Wutai now.

The other members of the party expressed their condolences to her and slowly left the circle of chairs they had been sitting in and started mulling around. The only one left to speak was Vincent.

"...Yuffie." He didn't know what to say. Considering what he had been through, he thought he should have known exactly what to say, but still his mouth wouldn't move. "...I'm sorry." He finally mumbled, cursing himself inside for saying something everyone else had already said.

"Thank you Vincent..." It was the first time in a while Vincent had actually heard her use his full name.

Yuffie looked down at her knees and drifted back off into her own world. He didn't like seeing her like this. It was the opposite of the Yuffie he had known before and he wished inside for her to jump up and say something stupid and immature that would make everyone laugh. But she never did.

"Why are you finding it so hard?" Vincent focused his crimson eyes on her as she looked up in surprise.

"Excuse me?" She was definitely more polite than the old Yuffie.

"Why are taking his death so hard? You were never that close to him before." He stated, Vincent secretly feared the worst inside but didn't want to say it out loud.

"I...I feel responsible." Vincent cursed again in his head when he found out he was right. Yuffie looked up at him wide eyed and weary. "If I had just stayed - If I had tolerated his attitude for once in my life then he'd still be here! It was my fault he died!" Tears flew down her face as she tried to run from her former team mate. He caught her hand and pulled her back.

"It's not your fault Yuffie, it never was and it never will be." He felt like a bit of a hypocrite. Okay a BIG hypocrite, but he knew she needed to listen to him before she went too far.

She pulled away once again and this time he let her go. She needed time to think and there was no use him trying to butt in. Tifa saw Yuffie run from the room and went after her but Vincent cut off her path, shaking his head.

--

The next day, AVALANCHE left Wutai and headed back to their own houses. Vincent was supposed to be going with them but stayed behind, saying he had some business he needed to take care of before he left. They looked at him like he was crazy but nodded nonetheless, and left him to himself.

Last night Vincent had decided that he couldn't let Yuffie be taken the way he had been. If she didn't get over Godo's death, she would soon end up just as cold and crude as him. So instead of heading back to wander in the Nibel Area aimlessly, he was going to take Yuffie on an adventure and hope that in time her smile would return. It was no lie that the two hadn't been the best of friends before, but he knew her spark would never return if he didn't do something fast.

He entered the pagoda with ease, each guard recognising him as part of AVALANCHE and a friend of their new leader. She didn't smile when he approached, just nodding slightly and turning to meet him. The old Yuffie would have nearly knocked him over hugging him and shouting loudly in his ear. Chekov was talking to her at the time but quickly stepped aside when she saw Vincent coming and made her way out of the room.

"Vincent." Yuffie greeted him weakly. "I thought you and the others had left this morning?"

"The others have, I stayed behind to ask you something." She stared up at him perplexed, why would he have missed a free trip back to Nibelheim just to ask her a question?

"What?"

He sighed, slightly ashamed of what he was about to say. "Would you accompany me on a trip away from here?" He already knew the answer, but waited for her to reply politely.

"Um..." She wanted to laugh at his uncomfortable face but the twist inside her stomach still hadn't gone away since last week. "I don't think I can." Her heart longed to say yes, to go travelling away from Wutai and to forget her troubles and doubts, but Wutai needed her now and she couldn't just disappear off not knowing when she would be back. "Thank you, I would love to, but I won't be allowed now I'm ruler of Wutai." She stared down at her feet expecting him to walk away.

It was the answer Vincent had been expecting, but he wasn't about to give up that easily. He had a Plan B. "If that's the case, I'll guess I'll have to kidnap you."

A/N: Ahh I didn't expect this to be so gloomy but it gets better! There wasn't much Vincent in it either but there will be in the Chapters to come. I'm trying out a much more complex storyline and I guess that means there are going to be some boring bits! Should update asap! x Oh and if you like Yuffentines please check out my other story, 'Beneath The Cherry Blossom Tree'. :)


	2. Chapter 2

A/n: Lucozade and mini eggs wrote this chapter!

Yuffie's head shot back up as the six foot man in front of her pushed her off her feet and carried her in his arms out into the gardens. "Vincent! What are you doing! Stop!" She tried to pull away, but after not eating properly for the last few days, she was no match for Vincent's strong arms. Yuffie called for her guards over her shoulder but when Vincent broke out into a run, she knew they would never catch up.

Vincent ran out of the gardens swiftly and made his way to the clearing he had promised to meet Cid at. Last night he had run into Cid in the middle of the night and the pilot also wanted to help brake Yuffie out of the stuffy town she hated so much. He promised to drop the others off early in the morning and come back for Vincent later, hopefully with Yuffie.

Yuffie stared up at the airship towering above her before trying even harder to get free of Vincent's grasp, she failed miserably again. She heard Vincent's chest rumble as he started laughing at Yuffie terrible attempt to escape. She sighed deeply, knowing that her father's colleagues would not be happy with her when she returned. Whenever that would be.

"At least tell me where we're going?" She saw Cid's small form on the Bridge of the air ship smiling smugly at them both. She really didn't like the look of that smile.

Vincent didn't reply, he just smiled. They reached the airship moments later and Vincent put Yuffie down on the wooden floor.

"Good to see you up an' about kid, I was gettin' kinda worried before." He slapped Yuffie's back in a friendly way and walked back inside the airship.

She sighed again and didn't even bother trying to look for an exit, she might as well go along with whatever he had planned so he would stop bugging her about being sad. She started towards the door heading down to her old room before a familiar face blocked her passage. Vincent had a piece of black cloth in his hand and pushed it over her eyes. "What are you doing?!"

Vincent smiled when the reaction he got was more than a sigh and replied while tying the cloth in a knot behind her head. "I don't want you to know where we're going. It's a surprise."

Yuffie tried again to remove the fabric on her eyes but couldn't work out the knot. This was the second time she wished she'd paid attention in rope escape lessons. Admitting defeat she turned around to feel for something and instead nearly fell back off the ship. Vincent caught her by the waist and turned her back towards the door, muttering something about always finding a way to kill herself.

--

After a few hour of motion sickness, being carried by Vincent, and talking to a strange woman, Yuffie's blindfold was finally taken off. She wouldn't say, but secretly, she was really excited about where Vincent might have taken her. _Are we in the Ancient Forest? Or maybe the Icicle Inn?_

She was more than shocked when she found herself in a dark and dim hotel room. The carpets were stained with fake blood and a few swords were placed on the walls as decorations. It didn't exactly smell like a bed of roses either. "...Is this it?"

Vincent stood across from her looked out the huge stain glass window in the room. "Don't you know where we are?" A smiled played across his lips when he saw Yuffie's dazed expression. A blue chocobo zoomed past their window, followed by a red one.

Yuffie sprang at the window, searching for the chocobos she had just seen before three more dashed in front of her. She jumped back in surprise and watched as the last bird, a lime green one, noticed their presence and ran towards the window, his jockey getting more and more panicked.

Vincent observed Yuffie's excited behaviour and was happy he had chosen to come to the Gold Saucer. It might have been the last place on the Planet he wanted to go, but Yuffie was his opposite and she loved it! "Come on. Let's go and do something you want to do." He frowned when Yuffie's face turned pale and drawn. "What's wrong?"

"The last time I did something for myself... I left Godo alone on the terrace... When he died." Ever since Godo had died Yuffie had blamed herself for the accident. The guilt inside her was tearing away her heart, she knew that she couldn't have fun when her father had suffered such a horrible death. "I'm sorry Vincent. I-I can't enjoy myself any more, it's not fair."

Vincent's gauntlet reached out to her shoulder and pulled her into himself. "Listen to me. You are not responsible for Godo's death." Yuffie nodded slowly. "It isn't your fault your father drank too much. You have done nothing wrong." She tried to interrupt, but Vincent stopped her. "You need to remember that before the guilt eats you up inside. Godo would want you to enjoy yourself." Yuffie nodded again and buried herself into Vincent's chest. She felt safe there, like nothing could ever bother her again. "Come with me."

Vincent dragged her by the hand out of the hotel room and towards the attractions of the Gold Saucer.

After a few minutes Yuffie found herself in a wooden Gondola. It squeaked and shook as it rolled out of it's station and climbed the heights of the Gold Saucer. Yuffie was confused. "Why are we on the Gondolas?" It was dark outside and fireworks were being set off around the giant golden mushrooms. The first time she saw this it made her mind burst with excitement to be so close to the display. She nearly pushed Cloud off his seat on that awkward date they had.

The flashing lights reflected off Vincent's eyes as he stared down at Yuffie. "This used to be my favourite place in the Gold Saucer. No people, no children, no annoying employees. I thought this would be the best place to take you, I want you to be happy again." He glanced back out at the night sky and thought of all the times he had sat here alone. It was nice to have company.

Yuffie was stunned by his sudden words, but comforted. "I didn't realise anyone cared how happy I was..."

"I'm not the only one. The whole of AVALANCHE want you to feel better, we care about you Yuffie, you just don't see it." He leaned back against the brown wall and soaked up the calm and quiet atmosphere, remembering why he had chosen to sleep in that coffin deep below the Shinra Mansion. When he opened his eyes again he saw Yuffie was crying.

"...I didn't think about that. I was so wrapped up in thoughts about Wutai and my future, I completely forgot about my friends. I'm sorry Vincent." She pulled her knees up to her chin and sat in silence.

"..."

--

That night Yuffie sat awake once again. _"I want you to be happy again."_ She looked over at the AVALANCHE member in the bed beside hers, he slept peacefully beneath the covers, his red cape hanging over a chair near the edge of the room. He always seemed so cut off from everyone before, she had no idea he cared so much for his friends. It was then that she decided to forgive herself for the death of her father. Vincent had finally reached out to someone and she wasn't going to let that be in vain any more, she was going to be there for him just as he had been there for her.

That night she slept peacefully for the first time since she heard the news, and the knot inside her stomach finally untied itself...

--

The next day they left the Gold Saucer and headed West to Cosmo Canyon. Nanaki had called Vincent after he left, saying he wanted to see Yuffie again and be there for her. There was festival that evening he wanted Yuffie to enjoy and be part of.

They arrived in late evening and the party was already in full swing. Lights and lanterns were spread across the whole canyon and the drums could be heard for miles around. The music spread through the village and Yuffie felt herself lift in spirits at the laughter and dancing that surrounded her. The bonfire in the centre of the festivities sparked with new life and she remembered when the whole team had sat there with Aerith.

Nanaki had to shout loudly over the music. "This festival is to celebrate the lives that were given defending the village many years ago when the Gi Tribe attacked. The people here believe that the dead would not want them to be sad for their deaths, but happy for their success." Vincent now knew why Nanaki had wanted Yuffie to come.

"Huh." Was Yuffie's only reply as she looked in amazement at the people around her. A man with dark hair walked up to her asked her to dance soon after.

Nanaki watched Vincent's body tense up as Yuffie said yes, but he soon softened when he saw excitement creeping back into her eyes as she danced around the fire.

"Why were you so concerned about Yuffie?" Nanaki asked as they watched her by the cliff side. "You never seemed that close with her before."

A small smile spread across Vincent's face when he saw Yuffie tripping over the man's feet embarrassingly. "I didn't want her to end up like me. She used to be so happy before, I couldn't let her happiness fade away because she felt responsible for her father's death... Just like I felt responsible for Lucrecia's."

"So have you learnt anything? Do you still feel responsible?" Nanaki still pitied Vincent for not being able to get over his first love. In time Nanaki had forgiven himself for what happened to his mother and he felt Vincent should have done the same.

"I'm still not sure." Nanaki nodded at the progress he was making and the two stood in silence before Yuffie returned.

"Thank you for inviting me tonight Red. It's been great!" Vincent noticed the enthusiasm in her voice and noted that her spark was returning. Nanaki also noticed this.

"If you will both excuse me, I have to assist Bugenhagen by the bar." He walked off and left Vincent and Yuffie alone again. Silence ensued.

"Are you going to dance?" Yuffie blushed fiercely and waited for Vincent to reply, she was mortified.

"I believe I might." Yuffie looked up at him in surprise as he took her hand slowly and brought her near to the firelight.

The soft melody of the music hung in the air between them as they danced together closely. Vincent would never had said yes but he knew Yuffie was desperate inside to dance again with someone. He watched as a smile pulled across her face.

"You know Vince." He didn't know whether he was happy or not she had picked up his nickname again. "This is the first time I've smiled since Godo died. I just wanna say..." She couldn't hide how uncomfortable she felt saying this to Vincent but carried on anyway. "Thank you. Again. I don't think I ever would have got over this, if you didn't help me." He stared down at the ninja in his arms and realised how much she had grown since they first met. Once a spoilt sixteen year old, now the leader of a small continent.

She noticed his eyes on her and looked up. For that moment they stood still, the music still floating around them, just getting lost in each other's eyes.

A scream shook across the canyon and the music stopped abruptly, bringing them back to the real world. Vincent stood protectively in front of Yuffie as the people around them whispered and pointed towards the cliffs above them. A bright light shone down on them and a silhouette appeared as the light faded. His silver hair glimmered in the lanterns surrounding him, his long silver sword reflected in the moonlight as he swung it in the air. His mako eyes burning with a lust to kill, there was no mistaking who stood before them.

Sephiroth.

A/N: ??Good??Bad?? Ha ha did you also notice that I left it at a cliff hanger and Sephiroth was 'hanging off the cliff'? lolz Anyway should be updating tomorrow or Sunday, not sure yet. I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter because Yuffie still had to sad about Godo's death, and Yuffie's never sad!


	3. Chapter 3

Hours later AVALANCHE sat around the fire in the middle of Cosmo Canyon. Silence ensued.

_"What the hell's going on?!" Yuffie screamed behind Vincent. The people around them were yelling and trying to find shelter._

_"I don't know." Vincent replied. Nanaki flew through the crowds and stood before them, teeth baring._

_"Are you ready?" He asked, Sephiroth was lowering himself in front of them._

_A flash of light and he disappeared again._

_"Where'd he go?" Yuffie searched with her eyes along the cliffs._

_A chilling voice called her from behind, whispering in her ear. "I'm back..." The hair on the back of her neck stood on end as she felt his long silver sword trace the line of her inner back._

_Vincent whipped round and fired shots into Sephiroth's stomach, pushing Yuffie behind him once again._

_Sephiroth just laughed. "See you around, Vincent." His body once again burst with a blinding light and disappeared into the night sky..._

Cloud was pacing up and down the rocky floor, he was confused by the whole ordeal. "...But we killed him." He finally stated.

"Of course we killed him! We killed him twice!" Cid was poking the fire, restless from being woken up in the middle of the night and ordered to pick everyone up to take them to Cosmo Canyon.

Tifa stood up and walked towards Cloud. "You don't think he's been brought back to life again, I thought only Kadaj had the power to do that..." Cloud put his arm Tifa's shoulders and told her to calm down.

"Well if tha' fool thinks he can mess with us, he's got another comin'!" Barret cradled his gun arm and smiled murderously. He would like nothing less than to kill the man once again for taking Marlene once before.

"You're right Barret." Cloud had seen sense and knew what they had to do. "If Sephiroth is alive again we can't let him stay that way. Let's fight him again, for the Planet." Cheers of encouragement and nods worked around the circle quickly, everyone eager to help save the world once again.

Yuffie was the only one not to speak out. Tifa noticed this, as did the rest of the group. "Yuffie, you're coming too, right?" Her head snapped up and she looked into Tifa's warm and reassuring eyes.

"Um.." She glanced around at the concerned faces watching her. She hadn't seen them since the funeral and she knew that they were still worried about her, not knowing about Vincent's kidnapping. "I can't. I want to but Wutai needs me. If Sephiroth is back, the country needs a leader who can stop them from getting involved in another war like before." She looked into the firelight, Vincent thought he saw a tear slide down her cheek but he couldn't be sure. "I'm sorry." Yuffie stared down at her feet before running into the darkness of the Canyon.

"Yuffie!" Vincent tried to run after her but knew there was no way of finding her in the light available. She was already out of sight. He felt a presence just behind him, Cloud.

"She'll be fine Vincent, she knows where she's going and she can defend herself well enough." He turned Vincent round and lead him back towards the rest of the group.

`"Well what are we going to do? How can we find him again?" Cid had now gotten up as well and was twirling his weapon in his hand and jabbing into an invisible enemy.

It was Reeve who spoke up first. "I can check in the Shinra documents. There might be some remnants of Hojo's work, and how someone could resurrect Sephiroth." Cloud nodded slowly.

"Okay, let's stay here for the night. Everyone get some rest, prepare to leave in the morning, depending on the information Reeve can find." With that he left, Tifa walking by his side towards the inn. The rest of the group nodded and went to find a place to sleep.

--

After hours of travelling through the night, Yuffie found herself back in a rainy Wutai. At five in the morning the streets were devoid of people, the pattering of the rain being her only companion. She walked up the pagoda, watching the sun rising over Da Chao and told the guards who she was. Soon the doors were opened and Gorkii stood in front of her white towel in hand.

He sighed pityingly. "What have you done Miss Kisaragi." She took the towel from him and stepped inside the tower her father had built when she was a baby for her mother.

--

Staniv, Chekov, Shake, and Gorkii sat side by side in a small conference room behind the pagoda, arguing about the situation.

"Well we can't let her rule Wutai! She'll ruin everything we put in place!" Staniv shouted slamming his fist down on the table.

"At least that Vincent guy did us a favour kidnapping her. How are we supposed to get rid of the brat now? When she dies we can finally rule!" Shake demanded, ever since she had met Yuffie she had hated her guts.

Chekov stopped her ranting. "Gorkii has had an idea, let him speak." They all looked down the table expectantly at him.

"I had a phone call from this woman, I don't know who she is but she said to call her if we needed to get rid of Yuffie."

Staniv was confused. "How did she know we wanted to get rid of her?"

"She worked for Shinra." Chekov told him. She knew he would blow up about it.

"I will call her now." Gorkii pushed a button on the machine in front of him and pressed the speaker.

A ringing filled the conference room before a harsh woman's voice filtered through. "_Hello?"_

"Hello, it's Gorkii, from Wutai. We have decided to accept your offer." As neither Shake nor Staniv knew what was happening they both started to protest at Gorkii's words, but were shushed by Chekov straight away.

There was a small pause before the woman replied. "_Good_."

Staniv leaned against the table before whispering loudly into Gorkii's ear. "What was the offer?"

The woman on the phone obviously heard as she answered the question for him. "_My offer was to assist you in assassinating Yuffie Kisaragi. I have many contacts who can dispose of the young ninja without trouble or complications. Let me know where she is staying today and she will dead by nightfall, you can blame it on a rogue ninja that stormed the pagoda and murdered Miss Kisaragi while she tried to defend her nation. Just give me the word._" The mysterious woman seemed to have the answer to their problem.

Nods were seen around the table and Gorkii relayed their answer. "She will be in the throne room from six this evening."

The phone went dead.

--

The sun rose high over the burnt orange cliffs of Cosmo Canyon and AVALANCHE were once again gathered by the fire, this time a small heap of charred wood smoking slightly in the crisp, refreshing air.

"So did you find anything about Sephiroth?" Tifa asked impatiently. She was sick and tired of waiting, she wanted to make sure Denzel was safe from any attacks but her phone wasn't getting any signal.

Reeve nodded quickly. "Yes, and it's not good news. Sighting of Sephiroth have been seen all over the Planet, and it's not just Sephiroth. Kadaj and Hojo have also been spotted everywhere. There's no way this could happen."

Vincent had tensed when Reeve had uttered the name of the man he hated with a burning passion. "We killed Hojo. I saw him die. We all saw Kadaj die as well." He was staring with murderous eyes at Reeve.

"I don't know how to explain it either Vincent but it's true." Reeve retorted, his eyes looking at the floor submissively. "There's video evidence."

"Where was Sephiroth seen?" Cloud looked up at Reeve and balled his hands into fist just thinking about the wretched men.

"All over the place, but we have a more pressing matter."

Cid walked up to him. "What the !~?* could be more important than fighting Sephiroth?!" He seethed.

"Yuffie."

Vincent zoned out of his flashback and stared back at Reeve again. "What about Yuffie?"

"While I was checking information about Hojo's understudies on his database, a new window appeared in front of me that had been updated only a few hours before." Reeve was looking more and more anxious by the minute, as were the rest of the group. "Someone has hired an assassin to kill Yuffie. I don't know who it is in Shinra but those four followers of Godo's have something to do with it."

"What?!" The group shouted in chorus.

"When?" Vincent demanded. The whole group waited for Reeve's response impatiently.

"Tonight, at six."

"Six?! It's going to take at least 5 hours to get there and it's already midday!" Cid screamed.

The group burst into mayhem as each panicked about what to do in their current situation. Only Cloud and Vincent stood still, thinking calmly. To AVALANCHE's surprise, it was Vincent who spoke out to them.

"Everyone stop and listen. Cid get the airship running, Tifa borrow Barret's phone and call Yuffie to warn her. Reeve, go to the airship with Cid and find out as much as you can about who's been asked to complete the operation. Red tell Bugenhagen what's happening and collect our belongings from our rooms, Barret and Cloud help him." Even Vincent seemed stunned at his words. They all looked at Cloud, expecting him to tell Vincent that he was the boss and the leader of the group.

Instead Cloud just looked back at them all. "...Let's go then."

The group tore into separate groups as Cloud smiled at Vincent and gave him a small nod of approval.

--

Yuffie sat on the floor in the throne room and heaved a long, heavy sigh. She had been told to wait in there over half an hour now and no one seemed to be coming to get her.

Rain still pattered over shutters to her right and the lantern that lit the room waved slightly in the escaping wind. She listened to the sound of crickets outside and blew the bangs from her face.

At last the door creaked open slightly and she stood to greet whoever was there. A pair of shutters burst open and the candle that hung inside the lantern was snuffed out, casting the room into near darkness. There was still some light fading from behind the windows but give it an hour or so and that light would disappear completely.

A dark shadow whispered through the room and ran into the dark spaces opposite Yuffie. As a trained ninja she knew of the shadows presence and was not afraid of the person scared of showing themselves. She waited patiently before a man dressed in black from head to toe walked towards her and held a shuriken in his right hand.

It took her a few seconds to realise what was happening and the ninja in front of her used that as a time to release the shuriken at Yuffie's head. She ducked just in time and looked around for any weapon to shield herself with. The ninja ran towards her yelling and tried to hit her with a drop kick. Yuffie was no stranger to this and jumped in the air to meet him and brought out her leg first to drop kick him. She succeeded and her attacker fell to the floor with a satisfying thump. Yuffie ran for the door and found it locked tight beneath her hand. The ninja had now fully recovered and ran for her once more, trying to punch her in the face and gut. She blocked each one of these attacks but found no way of attacking for herself. Soon, she being turned around and pushed back towards the other end of the room slowly. At one point she slipped and got caught by a fist in her stomach before defending herself once again. She called out a few times for her guards but no one seemed to have heard her. She was alone.

A few seconds later she heard cries of pain from outside, her opponent heard them too and got distracted. Yuffie used this time to smack the ninja square in the jaw and watch smugly while he stumbled backwards. The ninja was enraged by her hit and even more so when he saw the smile that was spread across her face.

She dodged his next attacks elegantly and waited for his next mistake. Unfortunately, it was Yuffie who faltered first. She was easily blocking his attacks before and a man in a dark cape ran through the door followed by a girl in black. She was so surprised to see her old friends that she just stopped fighting and gawked at them like an idiot.

That was when the ninja punched her, right in the forehead and knocked her out.

Her vision blurred and faded to darkness when she heard Tifa call out her name and Vincent's gun shooting into the man who had attacked her. She smiled when she felt the man's lifeless body flop against hers.

Nobody messed with Yuffie Kisaragi and get away with it.

A/N: I wasn't too sure about the start, I felt I rushed. But I LOVE the ending, it feels like the fight scene with Tifa in Aerith's church in Advent Children! Sorry if I've made a few grammatical errors, it's nearly midnight on a Friday and I'm really tired! Enjoy! Also thanks for the review from YuffiexVincent4EVER, loved your take on the characters from FFVII!! And thank you to LiveLifeLikeNeverBefore, your comments were so lovely! =D


	4. Chapter 4

"Yuffie? Yuffie can you hear me?" Vincent shook her shoulder gently but got no reply.

"We need to get out of here Vincent, who knows when the guards will wake up." Tifa looked around the dark room nervously. They had knocked the guards out easily because they weren't expecting them, it would be a lot harder to fight them in the dark.

"She's unconscious." Vincent stated, wiping the blood that was streaming down her face.

"Aw #?!." The unrecognisable voice sailed into the room and coughed. "I stood on the guards hand by accident. The #?!'s is gonna wake up any second." Cid looked at Vincent and Tifa's faces and then down at Yuffie, noticing the dead ninja next to her and the broken door frame he had just walked through. "What the #?! happened here?!" He exclaimed.

"Never mind." Vincent said, hauling Yuffie's body up and walking towards the door. "Let's go."

Tifa ran ahead of him and out the door, ready to take on any attacks in front. A moment later she flew back through. "Let's not go that way." She sang, running towards one of the windows.

Vincent threw her a confused look before hearing many angry voices heading in their direction. He looked down at his gun longingly, he couldn't get it out because he was supporting Yuffie. Instead he ran towards the window Tifa had just smashed open with her foot.

Cid walked up to the ninja's lifeless body and fiddled around in it's pockets. "Ah hah!" He exclaimed, pulling out a fire and poison materia from one of it's belts. He shoved the poison into his own pocket and ran back to the door. "Take this #?!ers!" He shouted down the hallway, throwing the fire materia towards voices. A small explosion lit the room and a few screams could be heard as most of the men advancing on them ran away.

Tifa jumped out of the window gracefully and shouted back up to Cid and Vincent. "Drop her down, I'll catch her!" She called.

Vincent looked out the two story window to see a black head bobbing up and down. He smirked at Tifa's suggestion. "The fall would kill you both!" More angry voices were getting nearer and a dim light could be seen floating towards the door.

"#?! this!" Cid demanded and elbowed Vincent aside. "I'll help her." He vaulted over the shattered glass and down to the lawn below. "Throw her now Valentine!" He shouted back up.

"Oi you! Stop right there!" A dirty man strode into the room, brandishing his sword wildly.

Vincent glanced round at the fat man before smirking once again. He propped one foot on the windowsill and took flight out into the night air, still grasping Yuffie's sleeping figure tightly.

Tifa and Cid watched in awe as he sailed through the trees and landed on one knee beside them. Passing Yuffie over to Cid he drew his gun out in one smooth, solid movement, and fired up at the window they had just jumped from. A man's body slumped halfway out of the glass.

Vincent replaced the gun and took Yuffie back out of Cid's arms. "...You scare me sometimes Valentine." He muttered, shaking his head.

"Come on!" Tifa shouted. Lights were being turned around them and more voices were shouting above the wind. Looking across the lawn, they saw four distorted monsters running towards them fast.

There was a rustling in the trees behind them and a blonde head poked out of the undergrowth. "Good to see a familiar face." Cloud smiled at the group and nodded towards the oncoming attack. "Reeve's waiting at the airship ready to take flight. Tifa, you go with Vincent and help him get Yuffie back."

Tifa crossed her arm across her chest. "And how are _you _planning to get back?" She asked, one eyebrow raised.

"We'll find a way, you're only going to Rocket Town so we'll be there soon." He unfastened the buster sword on his back and gripped it tight. "Go."

Nanaki jumped out behind him, growling slightly, and Barret followed. "Who the hell do these foo's think they are?!" Barret's eyes narrowed slightly as he ran towards the creatures, firing wildly in the air.

"Tell Reeve if he brakes so much a paint job on my ship, I'm gonna rip his little robot to pieces!" Cid shouted, before jumping into battle himself. Nanaki and Cloud followed suit.

Tifa longed to stay and fight by their side, but knew Vincent needed someone with him in case they got into a fight. "You ready?" She asked.

Vincent nodded and ran into the forests ahead of them, still cradling Yuffie to his chest.

A familiar clearing came into view and Vincent's mind flashed back to the day he had held her the very same way. He remembered her annoyed, exasperated voice when she had seen the airship in front of them.

_"At least tell me where we're going?"_

He smiled down at the girl in his arms and watched her breathing steady. Blood was still trickling down from the cut above her eye but she still looked as beautiful as she had before.

Vincent shook the strange thoughts in his head away and looked up at the ship he was now in front of. Reeve was gesturing from the bridge for them to climb in quick and pointing into the darkness behind them.

Tifa caught up with Vincent and ran up the little wooden bridge, shouting back at him. "Vincent! They're right behind us!"

He looked behind, searching for figures in the dark. He couldn't see anything - even with his enhanced eyesight - but felt the presence of others in the shadows. More ninjas. "Vincent!" She shouted again.

Vincent jumped back to reality and strode up the wooden plank. Tifa brought it aboard after him and signalled to Reeve that they were on deck.

Moments later the ship came to life and lifted above ground. It shook a bit and Tifa had to grab hold of the side to steady herself. Vincent swayed slightly but kept his feet firm upon the ground, staring back down at Yuffie. "We need to get her inside." He tried to open the door with his shoulder but it wouldn't budge, instead opting to kick the door open with his foot.

"You know I could have opened that for you." Tifa smirked behind him.

"Just like you could have opened the window with the latch a minute ago." The smile faded from her face and she blushed ever so slightly.

"W-We need to help Yuffie!" She stammered, walking through the now broken door and into the glowing light of the Shera. Vincent followed.

Reeve ran through the automatic doors and came to meet them both outside Yuffie's room. "What happened?" He cried.

"Don't worry Reeve, she's going to be fine, just concentrate on getting us to Rocket Town okay?" Tifa placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked back up at her and nodded, running back off to the bridge.

Vincent pushed through the door and lay Yuffie down gently on her bed. Tifa came through seconds later with a first aid kit. She sat down on the chair next to Yuffie and started cleaning up the gash the ninja had left. Vincent edged backwards and leant against the opposite wall.

"...Will she be okay?" He asked after a few minutes.

"She'll live, that's for sure. But I'm worried that it might get infected. He must have used that poison materia Cid found when he punched her. I think he had some sort of metal knuckles on as well, bare hands couldn't make a cut this deep." She sighed and pulled open one of the draws by Yuffie's bed. A pile of about thirty different coloured spheres glowed as she searched with one hand down to the bottom, pulling out out an emerald globe and placing it inside her glove. The room filled with a green glow as Tifa cast Poisona onto Yuffie's forehead. When the light retreated, she took the materia back out and placed back in the draw. Tifa frowned picking up a red materia and studying it closely. "My Alexander materia..." Huffing, she placed the materia in her pocket and closed the draw. "She'll be fine. The question is, when will she wake up?"

--

Yuffie's head pounded beneath her hand as she shielded the light filtering through her eyes. "Where am I?" Groaning slightly, she opened her eyes and looked around. The room was was cream with familiar pink sheets over her body. She could smell breakfast cooking downstairs and heard the giggle of Cid's son in one of the rooms around her. Pushing her head up slightly, she remembered what had happened back in Wutai. She gasped when she felt the scab on her forehead and sat bolt upright. At least, she tried.

There was an unseen weight pushing down on her stomach that made it impossible to sit up. The weight repositioned itself. Yuffie pushed the covers around her face down to reveal a sleeping Vincent slumped over her. He was smiling slightly and looked peaceful for once. Yuffie couldn't pull on the grin off her face when she saw him and started giggling softly.

The jolting movements of her stomach awoke Vincent as he looked bleary eyed at the woman. "...Yuffie?" He asked. It took him a few seconds to realise where he was and he shot back up in his chair when he realised his head had been lying on her stomach, blushing slightly. "I-I apologise." He stammered, looking more and more uncomfortable.

Yuffie laughed once again. "Don't worry about it Vince! It's sweet!" She pushed herself up slowly and held one hand to her forehead. "...What happened?"

"You were knocked out by the ninja just as myself and Tifa entered the room. Reeve found out that Godo's followers wanted the crown to themselves and would stop at nothing to get it, so we came to help you escape. The ninja punched you quite hard in the head and poisoned you, Tifa got rid of the poison but you were still unconscious for over three days." Vincent studied her dazed expression, sensing she didn't really take any of the information in.

"...So I haven't eaten for three days?" Yuffie inquired, her stomach growled aggressively on cue.

"No." Vincent blinked twice before she was out of the room and pounding down the stairs towards the kitchen. He sighed and followed after her, clutching his throbbing head.

"Yuffie! You're awake!" Shera squealed, rushing around the cooker and embracing her tightly. "Just in time for breakfast!" She smiled, and walked back round to the eggs she was frying.

"Good to see you up and about kid." Cid barked, ruffling her hair slightly and sitting down next to her at the table, holding his son William in his arms.

Cloud and Tifa were already sat across from them and they smiled warmly at her. "It's about time too!" Tifa said, laughing. "Vincent needs to get a bit of his own rest, he hasn't left your side since you were hit."

Yuffie raised her eyebrows slightly and tucked into the plate of eggs and bacon Shera had just placed in front of her.

At that moment Vincent walked in and nodded at the faces in the room. He picked up a paper from the side and started reading it from his chair in the corner of the room.

"So since I've been out of it did you find anything on Sephiroth?" Yuffie asked, her mouth still half full of bacon.

"Not really." Cloud replied. "We've gone in groups to different places we thought he could have left clues at, but we didn't find a thing." Shera placed another plate of food in front of Cloud and he began shovelling it in, still talking. "Barret, Reeve, and Nanaki should be back any minute from their trip to the Northern Crater, hopefully with better news." Tifa smacked his shoulder playfully for talking with his mouthful as they heard the front door open.

Barret walked in and slumped down on the table with the rest of them. "Nothin'! Nothin' at all!" He pounded his fist on the table hard, making everyone's food bounce slightly to the left.

"Alright alright, don't mess yourself!" Yuffie frowned, bringing her food closer.

"Shut up brat! We saved your ass back there, could be a bit more grateful." He said, pointing his human hand at her threateningly.

"Where else are we supposed to look..." Cloud mumbled. He was starting to loose hope.

"Well don't give up!" Yuffie shouted. She jumped onto her chair and looked at everyone in the room. "We've gotta keep fighting! Now that Wutai doesn't want me you're stuck with me-"

"You've got that right!" Barret interrupted.

"Shh! You're stuck with me and I'm not going to let you back down! We're gonna fight Sephiroth!" Everyone was silent and squirmed uncomfortably. "So where have you looked so far?"

"Everywhere!" Cid cried, exasperated. "Thanks for the pep talk kid but we've looked everywhere!" He pulled a scroll out of his pocket and handed to Yuffie, balancing the baby in one arm. She knelt down and opened it on the table, revealing a map with red crosses on nearly every location they knew of. "We even looked in that sunken plane and nearly got killed!"

Yuffie studied the map, her eyes scanning for a place devoid of red ink. Finally, she found the only place they hadn't looked. "How about there!" She said pointing on the map and pushing it to the middle of the table.

They all gathered round - apart from Vincent who was still reading - and stared at the place Yuffie had indicated.

"You foo' Cid! You said there weren't no places left to go!" Barret swiped at his head but missed.

"Watch the baby!" He shouted, handing him to Shera and glaring at Barret.

"Well, Yuffie's right, we haven't checked there. We should set off this afternoon." Cloud got up and thanked Shera for the food before walking upstairs to pack his things. The rest of AVALANCHE nodded and began to get ready.

Yuffie jumped up and down, still standing on her chair. "Alright! Let's go! To The Forgotten Capital!"

A/N: This Chapter has gotten so long I'm going to have to end it there! I was planning on putting the scene at The Forgotten Capital in this Chapter, but it's probably better to wait and take my time on it. The next Chapter might be a bit short but oh well! YuffiexVincent4EVER your writing's really good! Keep it up! Thanks reviewers, will update again this week asap!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: This is a short Chapter, it's just a filler I couldn't be bothered to put into the forth Chapter. :P

The wind died down and the sounds of the sleeping forest faded away to silence. The grey misty sky above drifted through endless clouds as AVALANCHE reached their destination.

Cloud stood with one foot resting on an outcropping rock, shoving his sword in the dirt next to him. He looked at the strange city in front of him and remembered the horrific events of the last times he had been there. Aerith and Kadaj ran through his mind, their dying faces haunting his life. Tifa placed an uncertain hand on his shoulder and brought him back to reality. He looked back at the confused faces of his team and knew he could not escape to the past when they needed him. "Let's keep going." He muttered, pulling his sword back out of the ground and placing onto his back once again.

Sleep deprived and exhausted, the weary crew plodded on through the white mysterious trees and looked around themselves nervously. Yuffie clung onto Vincent's arm and edged forward at the slowest pace of the group. Her eyes darted around in the grey and she whispered an old song breathlessly to calm herself.

"I need to get something out of my bag." Vincent mumbled, looking down at the small creature attached to his upper arm. "Would you mind?"

Yuffie gave him a confused look before staring down at her white knuckles and springing away from him, blushing slightly. She stuttered something about a spider and ran forward to Tifa.

"Hey Teef!" She smiled cheerily at the ninja that appeared at her side and nudged her with her elbow.

"Vincent asked you to let go?" She raised her eyebrows and watched Yuffie squirm.

"No! H-He just wanted to get something out of his bag!" She shouted, the rest of the group looked at her, including Vincent, and she blushed even more. "...Well he did..."

"Sh!" Cloud commanded. Holding his hand up for everyone to stop. They all drew their weapons, stood waiting for an attack.

After a few seconds, Cloud pointed towards the path in front of them and pressed on, his sword gripped tightly in two hands.

Soon the snowy trees dispersed from their view, instead a small lake and a shell shaped house stood in front of them. Cloud lowered his weapon slightly and paused at the lake's edge, watching the waves lap at his feet rhythmically.

"_Cloud!"_ The bell like voice floated around them. _"You came back for me."_

"...Aerith?" Cloud looked the the shell-house across the lake, recognising the figure in the doorway.

_"Yes Cloud. It's lovely to see you again, all of you." _She brought a hand up and waved at the team, the bangles clanging as her arm fell back down.

"..." Cloud tried to speak, but no words would come. "...Are we...in the Promised Land?" He asked, not daring to take one mako enhanced eye of the girl.

_"No silly! You're still in the Forgotten City."_

"How..." His mouth betrayed him once again, his throat closing up at the sight of the dead Cetra in front of him.

She giggled. _"You all look so funny! You look like you've seen...a ghost."_She giggled again.

"That's because you are." Cid called across the water. He was the least attached to Aerith, not knowing her for as long as the others. He nodded in her direction and spoke again. "You're a ghost, just those silver guys."

Aerith looked the pilot up and down, averting her gaze to Cloud and then back again. _"I see I'm not wanted here any more."_ She turned her back on the group and started walking through the black hallway.

"Wait!" Cloud cried, running knee deep into the water in front of him. "Sephiroth was real! Yuffie said she could feel his sword!...If he's real...Then you must be too!"

The whole of AVALANCHE glared back at Yuffie, they all had second thoughts about Aerith's sudden appearance, but they knew Cloud would never listen.

Aerith stopped, turning round to look at them. _"I knew you'd understand!"_ She called, running over to the broken banister that separated her from the water. _"I knew you still cared for me..."_ She raised her hands to her chest and closed her eyes. When she opened them again she smiled.

Deja vu hit Cloud hard as he remembered his first time in the Forgotten City. As if someone had read his mind, a flash of light appeared above Aerith. A long, silver sword descended towards the Ancient's body, slicing through in one clean cut. Her head jerked forward slightly as Sephiroth came to stand behind her lifeless body.

Cloud stood, not moving. He wasn't sure if the moment in front of him was real, or if his mind was just playing with him like it had done before.

Tifa raised a hand to her mouth as she watched one of her best friends die again, as she did Sephiroth's head snapped up. He smiled crudely at the heroes in front of him before jumping down off the balcony where Aerith's body lay. But instead of being engulfed by the waves of the lake's black water, his feet kept afloat, splashing slightly in what seemed like shallow water. "How does it feel?" He asked, slowly walking towards the shores that AVALANCHE resided on. "To see one you care about die twice, just after you got over their first death." His fearsome blade shone red as droplets of blood fell into the water below him. "Does it feel like the whole world is splitting in two? Like every breath you take is pushing your heart further down into your chest? You were so close to her, and yet it's all fallen to piece once again." By this time he had reached Cloud. He pulled his sword to Cloud's frozen body, wiping the bloodstains onto his pale cheek, laughing murderously.

Cloud's eyes still rested heavily on Aerith, he couldn't bring himself to tear them away.

"Not listening boy?" Sephiroth sneered. He pulled his sword above his head, ready to plunge it deep into Cloud's chest.

Up until then the rest of the team had stayed silent, watching the events unfold in front of them. But Tifa couldn't let Cloud get hurt. "Cloud!" She yelled running towards the edge of the lake.

Cloud's blue eyes ripped from the Cetra to the man if front of him, if you could call him a man. Cloud pushed the sword in his hands towards Sephiroth's body, slicing him from the waist to shoulder in one long stroke. His eyebrows furrowed as the murderer did not bleed. He brought his sword across Sephiroth's chest again, it felt like it was slicing through thin air.

Sephiroth's eyes locked onto Cloud's, smirking. A blinding light filled the room once again. When Cloud brought his arms back down, the space was empty. Aerith had disappeared, along with the pooling blood that had just surrounded her. Sephiroth was also gone.

Cloud reached his fingers up his face, watching Aerith's blood drip off his fingers.

A/N:Yes, I know, not much Vincent and Yuffie, not much of anything really BUT IT WILL MAKE SENSE!! I promise! I have a MAJOR Maths exam coming up on Monday so I won't really be able to update until the weekend because of revision. Hope you enjoyed it! Review? =D By the way, 'Beneath The Cherry Blossom Tree' has reached 1000 views!!! XD I'm so happy!!!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Just for the record, I do like Aerith! She's lovely! This Chapter is dedicated to LiveLifeLikeNeverBefore, one of my only constant reviewers! xx

Cloud woke up in a bright room, the floors and ceilings made of wood. He peered around to see no one at the bedside, and a note on the table next to his bed. He shook his head as the memories of the Forgotten City came back to him. _Did that really happen?_ He picked the ripped paper off the table and read Tifa's neat handwriting;

_Cloud,_

_You're awake! About time! If you don't remember what happened in the Forgotten City, you were so confused by what had happened, you passed out. Barret and Cid hauled you back to shore before you drowned and we brought you back here, to Cosmo Canyon. We thought that Bugenhagen might be able to help us and we needed to bring you somewhere to rest. It's been over twenty six hours since then and we have all gone to meet Bugenhagen up in the observatory, if you feel up to it, come and join us after some breakfast. I'm coming back as soon as the meeting's over._

_Tifa x_

--

"This seems to be an interesting conundrum." Bugenhagen mused.

The whole team - bar Cloud - had squeezed into the small room and waited for Nanaki's grandfather to answer their impending questions. They gathered round a small table, while Reeve passed out the only information known about the strange sightings of dead humans.

"You say that he was...walking on water?" Bugenhagen tapped his chin with his forefinger.

"We've said it a thousand ?!#* times, old man!" Cid shouted. Shera had called him that morning screaming about William's first word, 'Mama'.

"It's ironic, you calling him old man and all." Yuffie grinned, safely on the opposite side of the table, only vulnerable to Cid's evil glare.

"Getting back on topic!" Reeve interjected, slamming both his hands down on the table. "We have no idea what these creatures are and how to stop them."

Silence filled the room as AVALANCHE thought about anything that would explain the sightings.

"They could be more remnants?" Tifa put forth, raising her eyebrows slightly.

"Remnants may share DNA with Sephiroth, but none are the exact copy. Plus, Aerith had passed away by the time the remnants made themselves known." Nanaki laid his head back down on the rug by the door and purred at the fire to his left.

The rest of the team sighed and felt their head exploding from thinking too much.

"Maybe...they are not creatures at all." The group turned to stare at Bugenhagen, thinking he had gone mad with old age. "Maybe, if weapons could not harm them, and they didn't weigh anything, they were made of thin air..."

"What you taking about? A hologram?" Barret demanded.

"...Precisely." Bugenhagen trailed off, lost in his own thoughts.

"That would make a lot more sense." Yuffie contemplated. "We've had no other ideas and it would explain how Sephiroth could transport, and why Cloud's sword went straight through him."

Nanaki nodded in approval. "It would also explain why he appeared in a flash of light, and why he could walk on water."

"But I'm just wondering, if they were holograms, how could Yuffie had felt Sephiroth's sword?" Yuffie blushed as Bugenhagen and the rest of the crew fixed their eyes on her. "There aren't many people with enough knowledge of technology to do that..."

Vincent, who had stayed in the corners of the room until then, spoke through the shadows. "There is one person." His eyes burned with hatred as it dawned on everyone else who he was talking about. "Hojo."

--

The Midgar air surrounding them was stale and musty. Yuffie coughed in the thick gas and blinked away the stinging in her eyes. "I hate this place." She muttered, wanting to run back to the fresh air of Cosmo Canyon.

AVALANCHE stood on an empty street corner and waited for their leader to return from one of the small slum houses to their right. His blonde head bobbed out of the ripped tent and walked forward towards them.

"No one has seen anything, we need to get up to Shin-ra's buildings if we want to find Hojo." He looked up at the rain threatening to fall and called for them to take shelter.

A white church towered above them, everyone recognised which church it was but didn't hesitate to run for cover from the torrential downpour that was soon going to fall. The huge doors were pried open by force as they looked around the flower covered church floor. The dank smell of rotten wood filled their noses as they looked in surprise at the girl at the edge of the small pond of flowers. She looked up them and smiled.

"_Well, fancy meeting you again!_" Aerith turned to face them and twirled a rod in her right hand.

Cloud squinted at her and shook his head wildly, his spikes bouncing off his cheeks. "No." He muttered. Tifa slipped her hand gently into his and squeezed reassuringly.

"You can do this." She whispered.

"What the ?!#* are you doing here?" Cid yelled, gripping onto his spear a little tighter. Cloud gave the pilot a fierce look for swearing at the dead Cetra.

"_This is my church, you know._" She replied, taking a step towards them. Yuffie fell back from the front of the group, wanting to stay as far away from the person in front of her, she knew it wasn't Aerith. "_What's wrong Yuffie, don't you remember me?_" Aerith smiled warmly at her, reaching out with her hand.

Yuffie shivered at the smile, scared of something that could mimic Aerith's personality so well. "No, I don't remember you!" She shouted. "You're not Aerith! I saw Aerith die, you can't be here, you're not real!"

Aerith's smile broke as she looked back at the ninja with hurt eyes. "_How could you say that Yuffie? How could you think that?_"

Yuffie closed her eyes and shook her head as Cloud had done. "You're not real, you're a hologram!"

"_No!_" Aerith took another step forward. "_You have to believe me Yuffie! I'm real! I promise!_" Her hand was still outstretched only a small distance from where Yuffie was standing.

Yuffie stared down at the hand, wanting desperately to take hold of it and hug Aerith like she had done before.

"_Please._" She whispered to Yuffie.

Yuffie looked up at her green eyes and back down at the delicate hand only a few paces away. She took a step towards Aerith.

"Be careful kid." Cid warned from behind. Yuffie ignored his comment and took another step, Aerith's eyes softening with each footfall.

Soon she was in reaching distance of the hand. AVALANCHE held their breath behind her and watched as Yuffie's pale palm rose up to Aerith's tanned one. She hesitated slightly, before letting out a small cry and throwing herself towards Aerith with all her might. She grasped forward for her neck, trying to pull her into a warm hug, but her hands met nothing but air. Aerith smiled slyly as Yuffie's head sailed through her and hit the cold floorboards beneath them.

"_Oops._" A voice rasped in her ear. "_I must have been lying!_"

Yuffie turned over onto her back to see Aerith towering above her, rod raised and ready to strike. Yuffie pulled her arm across her face and waited for the fatal blow. Instead a shot was fired above her head and Aerith let out a startled roar. Yuffie watched as the bullet hit Aerith's rod, letting it fly out of her hand, pulling Aerith to floor with it. She now lay empty handed on the floor next to Yuffie. Vincent's gun was smoking as she looked back at the worried faces of her team. Something was bubbling in the pond just above Yuffie's head, and she propped herself up on her elbows to look into the clear waters below the floorboards. Aerith's rod sank to the bottom with a satisfying thud.

A burst of light sang across the church as Aerith disappeared and left the heroes in peace. Yuffie opened her eyes to see Vincent peering down at her.

"Are you alright?" He asked, pulling her up to stand. She nodded numbly. "Can you walk?" She nodded again, stumbling back towards the rest of the group.

At that moment the heavens began to open through the gaps in the roof of the run down church. "Let's stay here for the night." Cloud said, sitting down on one of the small pews. "She won't be back in a hurry and there's no use trying to find an inn in this weather." He gestured up to the roof. The rest of the group nodded and hunted around for dry wood to burn.

"Thank you." Yuffie mumbled to Vincent, she blushed slightly when he looked down on her.

"..."

--

When they awoke the rain had finally stopped. Nanaki tried to make a fire with his tail and few remaining pieces of dry wood, but Cloud stopped him, saying that they had to go as soon as possible. When everyone had rubbed the sleep from their eyes, the team set off towards Shin-ra's main building.

--

The small corridors felt claustrophobic as AVALANCHE finally made their way to the top step of sixty seven floors. The front doors to the building were locked tight with thick glass shielding their way through the old concrete structure. Cloud stopped at the top and looked down on his exhausted team.

"Come on Cloud! Let's rest, we can't exactly beat Hojo like this." Yuffie looked up at Vincent's smirking face, he was breathing evenly and calmly. "Oh shut up!" She narrowed her eyes at him and collapsed onto the banister to her left.

"Ten minutes." Cloud muttered, sitting down on the step Tifa had thrown herself on and giving her his water bottle.

"So." Yuffie started, pausing for another breath. "What do you think's going to be up there? Hojo? Or some mutant remnant thing?"

"Hey if you need a break stop !?#* talking!" Cid shouted up at her, crouching slightly to catch his breath.

"Whatever, old man. You needed a break too don't deny it."

Cid cursed at her and pulled his own water bottle out of his bag.

"There's definitely someone here." Nanaki grunted, raising his nose high in the air and sniffing loudly. "It's not Hojo."

Cloud rose back onto his feet and opened the door in front of them. "Come on, let's get this over with."

"But it's only been like two minutes!" Yuffie complained, stamping her foot on the metal step.

"Stop Yuffie, just go." Cloud sighed, peering into the darkness ahead of them and trying to spot a light switch.

Each member drew their weapon as they entered the darkness, waiting for something to jump out of the shadows at them. Vincent was the only one that could see the the light available and pulled the cord near the door to turn on the overhead lights. They blinked grimly down on the group and some went out completely.

Yuffie jumped when she found herself face to face with a giant glass tank. Nanaki growled at it fiercely, remembering the time he had been trapped in the metal tube for an experiment Hojo was testing on him.

"Holy ?!#*!" Cid yelled. He was looking into an identical tank to the one Yuffie had spotted, but this one help something inside. "It's Hojo!"

Indeed Professor Hojo's body lay still and upright in the calm water. His glasses were tilted slightly to the right of his nose, his hair floating around him and blocking the view of his mangled face.

"Grossness." Yuffie mumbled, grimacing at the corpse.

"Sh!" Cloud commanded for the second time that week. A light was flashing slightly in a room to the left of them, a voice was jabbering inside. Cloud paced forward and halted by the door frame, beckoning his team-mates to his side. The jabbering inside stopped. Cloud peeked through the door and saw the reflection of a woman on a computer screen. He wondered if it was actually a woman. Her blonde hair was pulled tightly into a bun on the side of her face, pencils were sticking out of it like chopsticks. She sat hunched over the computer screen, furiously typing into the keyboard, shaking slightly. Suddenly she looked up from her typing and caught Cloud's reflection in her screen. Her eye twitched behind her small circular glasses.

The woman stood from her messy desk, filled with take away rubbish and paper, and walked over to the door. Cloud backed away from her slowly, sword in hand.

"Let me guess." Her voice was harsh and crude. "AVALANCHE?"

"Damn straight!" Cid remarked, holding his head high.

"Oh how wonderful! How very...delicious!" She smiled evilly at the team.

Yuffie gave Vincent a fleeting look. "Did she just say...delicious?!" She asked, completely freaked out by the woman in front of them.

"Oh that's right! You don't know me! Well I know you, I know you very well indeed!" She paced around the group peering over Barret's shoulder. "Vincent? Are you sure you don't recognise me?"

"No." He said bluntly, his fingers curling more tightly around his gun.

"Well then, I'd better introduce myself! My name is Ruby Fantome, and I will be the one responsible for your deaths."

"Is this foo' for real?!" Barret asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh yes, I am." Ruby sneered. "I'm getting revenge, finishing everything Hojo didn't, including you."

"Why do you care about Hojo?" Tifa cried. "He was a psycho!"

Ruby piercing brown eyes shot up. "How DARE you insult Professor Hojo! He was a mastermind! He could have ruled the world if you hadn't stopped him! He was better than any of you murderers! He created life!"

"Yeah, a load of mutant ?!#*ers who tried to destroy the world!" Cid demanded.

"Stop talking about him that way!" Ruby shrieked.

Vincent's head snapped up. "...Ruby..." He looked down and then back up again. "...I remember you. You worked under Hojo, another one of his assistants." He nodded his head as he remembered.

"Wait." Yuffie looked from Vincent to the crazy woman. "If Vinnie knew you before the whole coffin fiasco, how are you still alive?"

"I can't age, Hojo let me be one of his test subjects. That was until Lucrecia came along." She paced back and forth across the laboratory. "Then, I was a back story, rubbish on the street! Hojo never looked at me twice after _she_ came along. How dare she be picked over me to hold his greatest creation! It should have been me that held Sephiroth, not _her_! Even after she died I wasn't his favourite, he was so obsessed with everything else he just forgot about me... I still love him though! I always have and I always will! AVALANCHE killed him! You murdered him for own personal revenge and that makes you no better than him!"

"We didn't kill him just for revenge!" Cloud shouted above the hysterical woman's voice.

"I don't care! You took pleasure in killing a man no less human then yourselves!"

"He wasn't human!" Nanaki roared, jumping forwards. "He was an animal, a monster!"

"Shut up!" Ruby screeched. "That's not important! What's important is that I finish you off and show Hojo I am worthy of him! First of all I had planned to help those four Wutain numbskulls to kill the _brat_ over there, they would soon create a war across the Planet, revenge of their own for the last war and I would be responsible for it all! Also, killing one of the famous AVALANCHE in the process!" Yuffie snarled at the nickname she was only comfortable with close friends calling her. "But then the rest of you had to interfere even though I had set a distraction up. But you fell for the distraction anyway and nearly died trying to kill a hologram!" She let out an evil laugh. "Idiots! Now Hojo knows what I am capable of, maybe I can replace that _cow_ of his!"

She ducked just in time as a throwing star sailed towards her head. "You have no right to call Lucrecia that!" Yuffie shouted.

"Excuse me?" Ruby asked, dumbfounded.

"Don't get me wrong, I hate what she did to Vinnie, but that doesn't give _you_ any right to slag her off! If _Hojo_ picked her over you then you must be the worst of the bunch! Get over yourself!"

Ruby laughed again. "Stupid girl!" She clicked her fingers once and flashes of light poured over the lab. "Do you miss your father?" She asked.

As the light faded, eight figures shimmered through. Sephiroth in front of Tifa, Kadaj in front of Reeve, Hojo in front of Cid, Aerith in front of Cloud, Lucrecia in front Vincent, Nanaki was faced with his father, Barret with Dyne, and Godo in front of Yuffie. They were completely still, as if waiting for orders.

"...Attack."

A/N: Ah hah! Don't you just love over dramatic baddies! Well, I hope this cleared up most of the plot, if you have any questions, I'll be sure to answer them in the next Chapter. That should be posted on Saturday or Sunday, I'm giving up Maths revision time to write this for you guys! I hope you appreciate it! =D By the way, the next one should be the last Chapter! Massive fight scene coming up! Oh and Fantome means ghost in French, I thought it was appropriate because of the whole hologram thing.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Last Chapter! Oh and did anyone know that if you put 'Sephiroth' into a spell checker, it comes up with Josephine! xD

AVALANCHE looked around in horror as the holograms in front of them whirled into life, weapons appearing in their hands.

Sephiroth and Kadaj were the first to attack, slicing through the air with their swords, Tifa jumped out of the way of Sephiroth but was caught on the should by the hilt as he pushed back. She recovered quickly from the floor, rolling out of the way of another strike. After punching him a few times in the gut, only hitting thin air, she jumped backwards as Sephiroth swung his sword towards her once again. "This is impossible!"

Nanaki's father, Seto, stood his ground and roared vicious at his son. "Father!" Nanaki boomed, raising his voice above the roar. "Father it's me!" He dodged as Seto flew towards him, teeth bearing.

"#?!* kill him Red!" Cid shouted, swiping through Hojo's head with the wrong end of his spear. "He's not yer dad and he won't listen!" Hojo's appearance flickered slightly before disappearing altogether. "Just hit 'em a few times and they disappear!"

Nanaki nodded at the pilot and started advancing on Seto while Cid ran off to help Tifa with Sephiroth.

Soon gunshots filled the air as Barret and Dyne set into battle. "I'm not holding back this time!" Barret yelled over his blazing arm, referring to the last fight they had had back in the Gold Saucer Prison Desert. Soon Dyne's form shivered out of light and Barret ran to aid Reeve.

"Dad..." Yuffie looked over her father's seemingly perfect form. He nodded his head slowly before reaching out towards her. She felt her heartstrings pull, she wanted so desperately for him to come back. His last words popped into her head.

_"You don't know what it's really like to loose someone!"_

The anger that had possessed her to leave that day flew through her veins and bubbled in her chest. Concentrating on it the way she had been taught, she pushed the bubble of energy down into her wrists and let it into her Conformer, aiming towards her deceased father's head.

It twirled through the air, rushing through Godo's head and landing with a smash in the side of the glass tank that held Hojo. Her father's figured blinked twice before vanishing from the lab space in front of her.

"_Cloud._" Aerith's voice hovered in the air around his head. "_It's me Cloud._" She stretched out and gripped in tensed arms, softening them with her touch.

His turquoise eyes met hers, the lump in his throat returning.

Tifa, who was guarding herself from Sephiroth's mighty power, glanced over in Cloud's direction. He looked dazed and almost child-like. Behind Aerith's back, Tifa saw her lifting her silver rod higher in the air. "Cloud!" She cried, not caring that Sephiroth was advancing on her fast.

Cloud's glazed eyes snapped back into motion as he saw Aerith's rod curving through the air towards him. He swung the sword in his arms through her small frame, pausing slightly before slicing through her once more.

Aerith stared at him, shaking. She tried to speak but her body disappeared into thin air.

Cloud looked back over at Tifa to find he was too late. Sephiroth was already above her shrunken form, bringing his sword down across her face. She yelped before seeing Cid's form appear at her side.

He swerved his spear back towards Sephiroth, hitting him right between the eyes. The sword in his hands flickered away from reality and he stood, confused. "Idiot." Cid muttered before reverting his spear back through Sephiroth's chest. The image immediately flashed from view.

Whilst this performance was running along, Vincent still stood idly before his first love. Both of them had not moved an inch since the battle around them had begun, they just stared at each other. Suddenly she ran towards him, trying to bury her face in his chest, but instead just walked straight out the other side.

Vincent's brain swirled around before he heard a familiar voice behind him. "_I'm so sorry!_" She whispered.

Yuffie, who had watched the whole scene in front of her unfold, gripped onto her Conformer tighter, which was still stuck six inches into the glass. "Yeah you will be #?!*!" She snarled, pulling the blade out of the glass with a grunt.

The two daggers in Lucrecia's hands hovered dangerously close to Vincent's back before he heard her gasping in his ear. He turned sharply round to see Lucrecia fading away before him. Yuffie stood triumphant behind her, still pushing one of the Conformer's blades deep into her stomach. The daggers in Lucrecia's hands fell to the floor with a clatter before she disappeared altogether.

Vincent looked up at Yuffie in surprise, he couldn't believe what she had just done for him.

"NO!" Screaming filled the room as Ruby jumped up and down on the spot. "How did you do that?! NO!" She screamed again. The whole room was now free of holograms, only the mad scientist and AVALANCHE were left. They all turned to face the hot headed mastermind. "You can't have killed them!"

Cloud chuckled slightly at the sight of the red faced scientist, before being elbowed in the side by Tifa.

Ruby looked up at him and smiled evilly. "Well I can always summon them again!" She said, eyebrows raised in Cloud's direction.

She lifted one hand up, ready to click her fingers before hesitating. Something curved towards her quickly, stabbing her hard in the gut. She gasped, falling to her knees and trying desperately to breathe. Her body denied her the right and she slumped to the ground.

Yuffie walked forward and wrenched her Conformer from underneath Ruby's corpse. "That's for calling me stupid." She mumbled, strapping her weapon back onto her back.

--

The warm scent of incense floated through the air in the small bar. AVALANCHE had finally returned to Tifa's bar to celebrate their victory. Marlene and Denzel ran through the room screaming and laughing with each other as Tifa handed out more drinks.

"Ah the good 'ol days!" Cid boomed, toasting to Barret with his oversized beer glass.

Yuffie smiled to herself as she looked at the happy scene around her. She and Vincent sat together in the corner, neither one drinking - one couldn't, the other chose not to.

"...You seem quiet." Vincent's eyes focused on the girl in front of him.

"I guess..." She squirmed around in her seat and looked over at Cloud and Tifa. His hands were locked around her waist while she held Marlene in her arms.

"Why?" He persisted. Vincent's eyebrows knotted together and he frowned at her reluctance.

"Well...After all the excitement I guess I forgot about what happened before." Her eyes glazed over as she remembered her father. "I was so caught up in the present, I forgot the past..."

There was a silence between the two as Cid fell off the back of his stool. Yuffie still looked far into the distance in what seemed like an impenetrable dream.

Vincent opened his mouth but immediately shut it again, knowing words could not relieve the pain she was feeling. Instead he reached over and squeezed the hand that lay lifeless on the table.

She snapped out of her flashback and looked back down at the gloved hand on top of hers. She let out a small cry before snatching her hand back and running for the door.

The entire team watched as her small figure flew up the stairs. When the door had shut Cid lifted himself clumsily off the floor and stumbled over to Vincent.

"What the #?!* you say to her Valentine?" He demanded, swaying slightly on the spot.

"I-" He was cut off mid-sentence by Cid's incessant rambling.

" 'Cause if I find out you've hurt 'er in anyway..." He leaned in close, releasing his fowl breath on Vincent's face. "You'll be sorry." He stood back up and pointed threateningly at him.

The whole room observed what was happening but no one said anything, even though it was obvious Cloud was trying to hold back a laugh. Cid swivelled round quickly and tripped over his feet, falling back onto the wooden floor. Cloud couldn't hold it in any longer and burst into laughter, the rest of the room following after him.

Vincent scowled at his friends and strode out the door, banging it loudly on the way out. "I'm going to bed." He muttered to Cloud as he passed.

--

Yuffie woke with a start as something large dropped onto her stomach. She opened her bleary eyes and looked at the black blob on her sheets, it was a bag.

"Come on." A voice ordered from behind her.

"Huh?" She rubbed the sleep from eyes and glared at Vincent for waking her.

"We're going." He stated, walking back out of her bedroom door.

She frowned at his back before jumping off the lumpy mattress. Her dreams were scaring her and she wanted to get out of the dingy house. Grabbing the bag Vincent had packed for her, she shoved her shoes on - she had slept in her clothes - and ran out the door after the mysterious man.

--

"Oh come on!" Yuffie whined, trying to pull Vincent's hands from her face. "You gotta tell me where we are!"

He smiled and lifted his hand and claw from her view, leaving her gasping.

"Mideel..." The green flow of the lifestream flowed a few feet in front of them and reflected off Yuffie's stormy eyes. "..." She was lost for words.

"I thought you'd want to be close to it." He mumbled, losing himself as well in the stream's magnificent beauty.

"Wow..." She gasped, plonking herself down in the soft grass. They had travelled in Cid's airship but it was still way past dusk when they arrived, the midnight stars twinkling above their heads.

"I also wanted to ask you a question." Vincent lowered himself next to Yuffie and they sat looking into the green glow. "...When we were talking to Ruby... Why did you...defend Lucrecia?" His piercing eyes bore into Yuffie's head, willing her to turn and face him.

"I dunno." She replied, falling back onto the grass behind her and stretching her legs in the air. "I mean I don't _like_ Lucrecia, but she was dedicated enough to her job to let you go, meaning she must be at least average at her job. Plus, you know, you still love her and Ruby was so disrespectful." She looked over at Vincent.

He leaned down next to her and stared up at the stars. "...Thank you." He whispered.

Yuffie let out a small chuckle. "No worries."

"No... Not about that." She turned to him. "Thank you for making me realise what a fool I've been. I held onto the past so much that I forgot the present...and the future." Their noses brushed as Vincent looked over at Yuffie. "But you have to let go of the past too."

Yuffie felt her eyes flash between his eyes and his lips. They were so close...

A small light lit the sky above them, startling Yuffie as they both looked up. A shooting star. She screwed her eyes up and tensed ever so slightly.

Vincent looked back at her, puzzled. "What are you doing?"

"...Making a wish." Her body relaxed again but she kept her eyes closed. She then flung herself at Vincent, locking her lips with his in a passionate kiss.

He pulled back, confused.

"...That was my wish." She said, grinning.

Yuffie gazed into the stars above her head, her eye regaining their glimmer. "So...what next?"

A/N: Omg that story was hard! I'm sorry it's taken me a while to update, it's been hard with exams and I've also found it hard to write this plot line. I think next time I'll go for something more simple! I left the story line open so I could start a sequel if I wanted to, but I won't be starting one for a while. If I do start one expect longer periods between updates because I've found it really hard to keep up. I've also started on a new story line but it's not finished yet so it might be a while before I post. Thanks for all the comments and feedback, if you liked this story please review just saying you liked it! Oh and check out my other stories! =) Thank you! xx


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